Posted on 10/02/2003 1:21:45 AM PDT by kattracks
Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring.The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years.
Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox twice.
"There were times when I worried," Cline told the National Enquirer, which broke the story in an edition being published today. "All these pills are enough to kill an elephant - never mind a man."
Cline could not be reached for further comment yesterday, but her lawyer, Ed Shohat of Miami, said his client "stands behind the story."
The Daily News independently confirmed that Limbaugh is under investigation.
His lawyers, Jerry Fox and Dan Zachary, refused to comment on the accusations and said any "medical information" about him was private and not newsworthy.
They said Limbaugh - who has a top-rated syndicated radio show but resigned early today from a weekly ESPN football segment amid criticism of racial comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb - was traveling and had no comment.
The Palm Beach County state attorney's office, which is running the probe, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations.
Scoring in parking lot
Cline told the Enquirer she went to prosecutors with information about Limbaugh and others after four years of drug deals that included clandestine handoffs in a Denny's parking lot.
She said she wore a wire during her last two deliveries to the conservative commentator and gave the tapes to authorities.
She also gave the Enquirer a ledger documenting how many pills she claimed to have bought for him - 4,350 in one 47-day period - and E-mails she claimed Limbaugh sent her.
In one missive, Limbaugh pushed Cline to get more "little blues" - code for OxyContin, the powerful narcotic nicknamed hillbilly heroin, she said.
"You know how this stuff works ... the more you get used to, the more it takes," the May 2002 E-mail reads. "But I will try and cut down to help out."
The account Cline gave the Enquirer is that she became Limbaugh's drug connection in 1998, nine months after taking a housekeeping job at his Palm Beach mansion.
It started after her husband, David, hurt himself in a fall, and Limbaugh asked how he was.
"He asked me casually, 'Is he getting any pain medication?' I said, 'Yes - he's had surgery, and the doctor gave him hydro-codone 750,'" Cline said. "To my astonishment, he said, 'Can you spare a couple of them?'"
Husband's pills
Cline said she gave Limbaugh 10 pills the next day and agreed to give him 30 of her husband's pills each month. When the doctor stopped renewing the prescription in early 1999, Limbaugh allegedly went ballistic.
"His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what you do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" Cline said.
The housekeeper said she found a new supplier and arranged to hide Limbaugh's stashes under his mattress so his wife, Marta, wouldn't find them.
After several months, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox and didn't need any more pills, Cline said.
But a month later, he said his left ear was hurting and asked her for hydrocodone, followed by an order for OxyContin.
Limbaugh, 52, suffered from autoimmune ear disease, a condition that left him deaf and had to be corrected with cochlear implant surgery two years ago.
Cline said she continued to make deliveries to Limbaugh even after she quit as his housekeeper in July 2001 - but he became increasingly paranoid, even patting her down for recording devices, she said.
In June 2002, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox a second time.
After he returned, "I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit," she said. "He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."
She claimed that a lawyer for Limbaugh gave her a payoff - $80,000 he owed her, plus another $120,000 - and asked her to destroy the computer that contained the E-mail records.
Soon after, Cline and her husband retained Shohat and contacted prosecutors.
Feeling no pain
The drugs Rush Limbaugh is accused of abusing are legal only with a doctor's prescription. All are habit-forming.
- Hydrocodone
Anti-cough agent and painkiller similar to morphine. Side effects include anxiety, poor mental performance, emotional dependence, drowsiness, mood changes, difficulty breathing and itchiness.
- Lorcet
Brand name for the combination of Tylenol and hydrocodone, prescribed for moderate to severe pain. Side effects include dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, dizziness, tiredness, muscle twitches, sweating and itching.
- OxyContin
Potent time-release medication for relief of moderate to severe pain, known as hillbilly heroin because of black-market popularity in some rural areas. Side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, sweating, muscle twitches and decreased sex drive. A large dose can be fatal.
Originally published on October 2, 2003
As Groucho once said, "just because you are paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!" Clearly, she says she did in fact wear a wire on her last two alleged "meets." Okay, now exactly how does a "maid" get the wherewithall to purchase a wire that can resist a "patdown?" The only way it could be legitimate is if the cops supplied it, but they are usually not at the top of the spook technology curve. If supplied by the DNC or other non-police types, then the tapes are immediately suspect. Why would Rush, knowing the depths to which a sexual harrassment accusation can go, even consider doing a patdown? (there are much more effective electronic methods of detecting wires, and anyone that even watches TV would know it).
In June 2002, Limbaugh told her he was going to New York for detox a second time.
Wouldn't it be simple to match the times of any of Rush's vacations and see if indeed he was registered at a detox clinic? I seem to recall that he was playing golf, publicly, on most of his vacations.
After he returned, "I went to talk to him, and he cried a little bit," she said. "He told me that if it ever got out, he would be ruined."
She obviously "felt his pain" right down to Enquirer headquarters.
She claimed that a lawyer for Limbaugh gave her a payoff - $80,000 he owed her, plus another $120,000 - and asked her to destroy the computer that contained the E-mail records.
So there should be a record of the deposits of that sort of cash, no? This is not conclusive though, since the DNC could have "lent" her the money to make the story look real.
Bottom line: the story has a definite reek to it, and I for one (unlike Mike Barnicle the plaigerizer, and Imus the "former" druggie and alcoholic, and the other clowns on the Imus show this morning) will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is innocent until proven guilty. Even if he were found to be guilty of the misuse of painkillers, would he be the first? Has he criticized others for their abuse of painkillers? Think about an earache you might have had, even as a child, and then think about what Rush had done to him with the cochlear implant.
I just don't see how Rush could have had such a heavy habit and remained functional in the real world. And to be blunt, at his level of income and fame, why would he need a houseservant as a supplier? He could buy a Doc easily enough.
I saw elsewhere that the alleged email evidence has convieniently vanished, so what we are left with is merely a slanderous tale.
How utterly Clintonian.
See my tagline...
Here's a little point that makes me suspicious. The article quotes an e-mail:
"But I will try and cut down to help out."
The correct grammar is "try TO cut down". This missuse (most common among younger people) grates on me more than fingernails on a blackboard. Every time I hear it I cringe. I have listened to Limbaugh faithfully for over 12 years and I have NEVER heard him make this error.
Small thing, but it makes me suspicious.
Man... all I know is I feel like sh_t today. Darker days loom for us on the horizon.
Nope. Percocet is oxycodone, a similar but different drug. Hydrocodone is the generic for Vicodin. Having had Vicodin before for pain, I can see where it might be addictive...the stuff screws you up pretty good, and like all opiate derivatives, it is pretty addictive.
Snidely
Elephant, Hmmmmm.
When I was on the stuff, I slept 12-15 hours a day. When I was awake, I watched replays of the B&W Zorro.
Bingo ! I haven't forgotten all the comments about "dope smokin', maggot infested..."
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